It's impossible to be across all the new music out each Friday. Luckily, PAPER is here to help you out: each week, we round up 10 of our favorite new songs from artists — emerging and established — to soundtrack your life. From the surreal to the sublime, these songs cover every corner of the music world. The only criteria: they all have to absolutely rip.
Subscribe to our Sound Off Spotify playlist here and check out this week's tracks, below.
Song of the Week: Perfume Genius - "It's A Mirror"
The thundering first single from Glory, the new album by Perfume Genius, finds great tension between the grandness of Mike Hadreas' music and the intense claustrophobia of his lyrics. "It's A Mirror" is all about feeling hemmed in — locked away in your own house, tied up by your own memories, trapped in your own loneliness — but Blake Mills' production taps into the rich, wide-open-road feeling of classic '90s American indie music, making Hadreas' lyrics seem less like resignations toward unchangeable behavior as much as first steps toward the grand outside world.
Central Cee, 21 Savage - "GBP"
21 Savage slots seamlessly into Central Cee’s plush UK drill landscape on this wistful, aspirational new track.
Mess Esque - "Take Me To Your Infinite Garden"
The latest single from Mess Esque’s forthcoming debut album is rollicking and nervy, building from tribal folk into an all-out post-rock maelstrom.
Oklou, Bladee - "take me by the hand"
This French/Swedish summit adds a bit of brightness into both Bladee and Oklou’s respective worlds — a dose of euphoric trance pop to lighten up January blues.
Ela Minus - "QQQQ"
Eli Minus’s latest track is a haunted techno stomper where harsh atmosphere threatens to drown out her droned vocals altogether.
Sharon Van Etten - "Trouble"
“Trouble” showcases the live, loose feel of Sharon Van Etten’s forthcoming album, with her band The Attachment Theory perfectly in the pocket beneath her rich vocals.
John Glacier, Sampha - "Ocean Steppin'"
London poet John Glacier lets her distinctive voice fade into the haze on this chilly 2-step track, which is gilded with a typically gorgeous Sampha guest spot.
DJ Koze, Ada - "Unbelievable"
DJ Kobe slips into his gauziest, prettiest, beat-free mode on “Unbelievable,” which features guest vocals from Ada.
Dylan Moon - "Blues in C"
Less dense but no less appealing than his usual mess of breakbeats and co
Mac Miller, SZA - "DJ's Chord Organ"
This cut from Mac Miller’s new posthumous album Balloonerism finds SZA dipping into a husky register over washed-out, hazy beats.
Photography: Cody Critcheloe
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